History of Computers (350 Million Years BC) The First Tetrapods Leave the Oceans
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The number system we use on a day-to-day basis is the decimal system, which is based on ten digits: zero through nine. The name decimal comes from the Latin decem meaning ten, while the symbols we use to represent these digits arrived in Europe around the thirteenth century from the Arabs who, in turn, acquired them from the Hindus.
As the decimal system is based on ten digits, it is said to be base-10 or radix-10, where the term radix comes from the Latin word meaning "root". Outside of specialist requirements such as computing, base-10 numbering systems have been adopted almost universally.
This is almost certainly due to the fact that we happen to have ten fingers (including our thumbs). If Mother Nature had decreed six fingers on each hand we would probably be using a base-twelve numbering system.
In fact this isn't as far-fetched as it may at first seem. The term "tetrapod" refers to an animal which has four limbs, along with hips and shoulders and fingers and toes. In the mid-1980s, paleontologists discovered Acanthostega who, at approximately 350 million years old, is the most primitive tetrapod known – so primitive in fact that these creatures still lived exclusively in water and had not yet ventured onto land.
The first tetrapod had eight fingers on each hand
(Courtesy Maxfield & Montrose)
After the dinosaurs (who were also tetrapods) exited the stage, humans were one branch of the tetrapod tree that eventually inherited the earth (along with hippopotami, hedgehogs, aardvarks, frogs... and all of the other vertebrates). Ultimately, we're all descended from Acanthostega or one of her cousins. The point is that Acanthostega had eight fully evolved fingers on each hand (see the figure above), so if evolution hadn't taken a slight detour, we'd probably have ended up using a base-sixteen numbering system, which would have been jolly handy when we finally got around to inventing computers, let me tell you! (As a point of interest, the Irish hero Cuchulain was reported as having seven fingers on each hand, but this would have been no help in computing whatsoever.)
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There was this fascination for 6s and 12s by the British!
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Reviewed by Ramanujan ValmikiDecember 02, 2009
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Hi Max.. Good blog!
From my childhood, I remember that we here in India had borrowed the fascination for 6 and its multiples. Our Rupee consisted of 96 annas, with a 'quarter' at 24 annas and a 'penny' equivalent coin at 6 annas. This was obviously influenced perhaps by somewhat similar fascination that the British have (or had) for 6, 12 and its multiples in all forms of measurement. The universal acceptance of the SI system has pretty much put the 12 to rest, I believe.
Like you have said about 10 'digits' of our two hands being the reason for the decimal digit system, there seems to be one reason why 12 could be loved -
When counting 'mantras' for chanting, I have noticed the learned masters move the tip of thumb from one bone-segment of each finger to the next, and then progress to the next finger and so forth. 4 fingers with 3 bone segments make for a count of 12. The left hand is used then to fold finger by finger in one direction, and unfold in the reverse direction to create a cascade count of multiples of 12.
Then there are these counting bead strings used by Buddhists, Jains and Hindus alike. I never bothered to check how many beads each such string carries. I kind of tend to think it may be 108, a multiple of 12 with 9.
Another time, we need to talk about 9 too.
